Washington DC: Rogue 24 (May 2012)

Overall, we had a good meal here, but not 24 courses good. About 18 of the courses were excellent, creative, and interesting, but the other 6 were a bit repetitive, not necessarily in ingredients, but in concept and presentation. You have tasting two menu options: 16 courses for $110 or 24 courses for $135. At one point, we wondered if someone was listening in to our conversation with a microphone when we said a particular course seemed redundant, because two courses later, we received was AN EXACT DUPLICATE of a previous course (and it was one of our least favorites, to boot). When we commented to the server that we already had eaten that item, he just laughed and said that we should enjoy the bonus course. The space is interesting (open and warehouse-like), although it is a bit difficult to locate. You must walk (or drive) down the alleyway to find it; even though the address is N Street, it is located “in the back” on Bladgdon Alley between 9th and 10th Streets. Another issue we had with the restaurant was that even though we arrived on time, we were made to sit in the lounge area for 15 minutes and order cocktails that we didn’t want. We had a fairly early reservation (7:00), which meant that no one was sitting at our table previously. In reading other reviews after we dined, it seems like this forced drinks in the lounge concept happens to everyone. It appears that most of the staff is having a good time together working in the open kitchen in the center of the dining room, but sometimes it occurs at the diners expense. For example, be careful when you rise from your table to use the restroom – if you get up close to when they were planning to deliver your next course, the entire staff will make loud embarrassing sounds (boohs or oohs) for the entire dining room to hear. Hey, we get it that getting up to use the bathroom puts a small crimp in your service, but then why do you force an extra drink or two on us before we even arrive at the table? The chef, RJ Cooper, seemed to walk around and talk to all guests except our table. Even when he delivered one of our courses to us, he barely acknowledged our existence even though we tried hard to engage him. It made us feel a bit undervalued, when we could clearly see that he conversed with other customers. You can reserve using City Eats (a reservation system which works for Philadelphia also.) They are making some great food at this restaurant, but it still far from perfect. Were we sorry that we went? Not really – Komi and Citronelle were already booked, so this seemed like the next-best option.